Posted in Homeschool
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This is my 14 yo daughter's favorite conductor, Dr. Shaw. She has played under his direction in the local summer youth band program since 4th grade. Recently she auditioned for our city's Youth Symphony Orchestra. This is a special program for "highly motivated" high school kids. Last night she found out she made it! And so we celebrate with her today .... atta Girl! |
Posted in Homeschool
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Even good friends raise an eyebrow when I answer their questions about homeschooling through high school. My general answer includes our love of learning using excellent literature, especially the classics. Not only do our Illinois schools not promote the classics as ideal literature, some of our districts are pushing smut on our children. Related Tags: literature, reading lists
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Posted in Homeschool
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If you want to start a homeschool co-op, ask some experts to teach. We've lined up some very talented teachers for our Fall Semester. We appreciate their time and contributions to a rich learning environment for our children! Meet a few of them..... a Photography Teacher who blogs at Fstops and Shutter Speeds a Journalism Teacher , who is a contributing editor to the Decatur Magazine and a Math Teacher and conference speaker who blogs at Let's Play Math |
Posted in Homeschool
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Denise at Let's Play Math posted Homeschooling Burnout: 10 Tips for Coping. Thanks for some great ideas for re-looking at our days, Denise. How do you know if you're burned out? Some symptoms include: a lack of patience, a lack of appetite OR overeating, overreacting to minor issues, and making irrational decisions. I think I've been burned out I'd like to chime in with Denise on some strategies to battle burnout: (these are listed in no particular order) 1. Find an outside activity for yourself and the kids: a family nature walk or gardening day. If your kids are old enough, maybe you'd prefer a meditaitve walk alone, while they take a bike ride with dad. Or send them out to Tree School so you can relax on your deck and enjoy the sounds of nature vs. the sound of "Mommm"! Get fresh air and out of your house. 2. Once everyone has had some fresh air and exercised a bit, make a pitcher of your favorite drink: ice tea or lemonade? Allow yourself and your kids to take two hours of "alone time" with their beverage. Mom may choose to read one of those books piled next to her bed, or flip through a magazine or catalog, or talk to a supportive friend on the phone. Give the kids some ideas to use this time creatively......give them the digital camera to capture some nature photos, challenge them to a photo contest, make some scrapbooking pages. 3. Find a family service project and take a day away from school to serve others. Once we see "how good we have it", we're more open to recommit to our educational opportunities. 4. If you're not getting together with other homeschool families regularly, find reasons to share learning time outside of your regular academic schedule. Find a substitute teacher for a day or join a co-op in your area. 5. Engage learning modalities which do not require mom time: videos online, supplemental DVD's for textbooks, audio-visual curricular lectures and lessons, and online tutorials. 6. Maybe you have read, changing the behavior and response of others around you, begins with a change in your own heart and words. 7. You can't be serious about everything. Even catastrophes make family memories. Laugh more with your kids! And for those of us in the midst of adolescent angst, Try to Appreciate Those Teen Years. 8. Tackle the clutter and give yourself a Learning Space Make Over. Or implement just a few organizational strategies each month. Can you find the books you need in your house? It also helps to make a library corner....ask anyone who has spent a whole morning just looking for the books they need that day. Sometimes physical and mental clutter, clutters our hearts. 9. Talk to other moms about how they cope with burnout or read about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Homeschooling. The authors of this blog series admit they do not always succeed at these habits, but sharing experiences and supporting one another goes a long way! 10. Don't re-invent the wheel. Use web resources ... it's not cheating. Honest! You can also find web resources to Homeschool for Free, if financial stress adds to your burnout. 11. Take a school vacation....no not a vacation away from school (although I'm very much in favor of that too!); make the vacation count as school. Here's an example of family weekend school or take a unit study vacation. Or find a week long school camp in your city. It's a change of routine and venue and FUN! 12. And last, but NEVER least, pray this special Homeschool Mom Prayer. Related Tags: homeschool, burnout, stress |
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A Cambridge Philosphy professor offers 10 reasons to homeschool (He lists 9 but includes performance on standardized tests in his introduction). Maybe he read Michelle Malkin's recent article on whitewashing jihad in the schools. Or maybe he's read School Figures: The Data Behind the Debate? School Figures presents the most recent statistics, along with historical trends of today's educational landscape. Whether parents choose to educate their children at government schools, private schools, or at home, they need to be pro-active in defining and meeting their children's learning styles and needs. When evaluating educational options, children's learning goals should not be limited to the academic arena. More importantly, consider who is influencing their moral and spiritual formation five days a week. |
Posted in Homeschool
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Helping Sister sort labeled vs. non-labeled bottles Packing washed medicine containers with a buddy Sorting surgical scrubs and baby bottle nipples All of these hospital supplies were donated by various hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin to Mission Outreach. We visited the Mission Outreach office/warehouse and helped with various levels of sorting, cleaning, packaging, weighing and labeling. There was plenty to do for everyone. Since January 2006, Mission Outreach has shipped more than 270,000 pounds of supplies and equipment worth over $1.5 million to organizations throughout the world including United States charities. Here are the statistics of where our items were shipped and the percentage of the 270,000 pounds:Costa Rica (2%), Cuba (5%), Ghana (7%), Honduras (3%), Haiti (8%), Morocco (7%), Mongolia (6%), Philippines (11%), Pakistan (5%), Russian Federation (7%), Ukraine (14%),and the United States (25%).
Our group of Catholic homeschool families had fun together and with the Hospital Sisters, while making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. We enjoyed a tour of the facilty and operations of Mission Outreach and learned about the people served throughout the world by the Franciscan Sisters. It's great when kids have the opportunity to see beyond their myopic world. And they learned that service has lots of intrinsic rewards, including forming new or deeper friendships. It was awesome to see the kids working together for a common goal.
We're definitely looking forward to returning regularly to help the Hospital Sisters with Mission Outreach. We are currently recruiting more Catholic families to participate, in hopes of sending a monthly work team. We're on a mission!
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Posted in Homeschool
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There's a "new kid" on the block, when it comes to homeschool planners. The CM Organizer has been developed especially for families using the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. Watch the free video or try it for a 30 day free trial. It's great to see homeschool families producing useful tools. We are still very happy with our Homeschool Tracker, also developed by a very dedicated homeschool family. A big thanks to all the homeschool moms and dads developing affective curriculum and resources for the next generation.
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Posted in Homeschool
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This is the winning Math Counts Team, the 1st two alternates and their coach, Denise from our local homeschool co-op. Three of them are my kids! The homeschool team won 1st place in the Central Illinois Math Counts competition. They competed against other public and private middle schools in the region. The homeschool team and one alternate are up in the Chicago area for the state competition today! MATHCOUNTS® is a national math enrichment, coaching & competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state & territory. |
Posted in Homeschool
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Recommended by many classical home educators: Jacob's Geometry (revised 3rd edition): 1) Exploration and Discovery - short lessons followed by a sequence of exercises allows students to learn as they go, developing understanding through practice; the motivation and gentle step-by-step approach is especially effective.
And now there is a NEW instructional DVD available to help homeschool families struggling with geometry. This could be the solution for those of us who have become D.I.V.E. - dependent! |
Posted in Homeschool
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Ideas for President's Day Take a quiz about George Washington Answer Trivia Questions about President's Day Abraham Lincoln for primary grades Research Presidents of the United States: World Almanac President's Day Word Search Related Tags: children, holidays, activities, President's Day |
Posted in Homeschool
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Teascript is a web-based tool designed to make it easy for homeschoolers to build a professional high school transcript. Teascript features an intuitive interface that enables you to quickly add courses and activities for your student. GPA is automatically calculated for you. Instructions embedded in the page guide you through the process from start to finish. After completing your transcript, it can be printed or downloaded with a single click. I played with it for awhile today....it's very user friendly! Related Tags: homeschool, high school, transcripts |
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